Southpaw

Why am I left- handed? I started reading the Bible on February 13, 2022 and finished it a year later. And the right hand is the hand spoken of in the Bible. The Bailiff says” raise your right hand” in courtrooms, people extend their right hand to me for a handshake, and I’m over here ,so left-handed.

I’m not just left-handed. I’m very left-handed. When I broke my left wrist and wore a cast for 6 weeks, I became right handed. When I cut my left palm and needed 14 stitches, I became right-handed. Or shall I say I became illegible, and pretty much useless. It’s hard to get dressed with one arm so you get creative with dressing, and articles of clothing are assessed for their necessity.

Even weeks of recovering from injuries didn’t make me right-handed. I think my brain giggled a little when I clumsily picked up a pen in my right hand. The chicken scratch I created with the pen was amusing, but not very helpful if it actually needed to be deciphered.

I had a young teacher in elementary school that would knock my knuckles with a yardstick for writing with my left hand, and then she graduated to a very pointy ring she wore. There were days when I fought back tears from the pain, and wished I could punch her with my left fist. I went home with raw knuckles and lumps hidden by my hair, but I showed her… I’m still left-handed!

So then fast forward to two years ago and I read in the Bible how the sheep and goats are separated, goats to the left and sheep to the right, and I’m like “ I’m over here with the goats” Ah, but then I found a verse I’d missed before, Judges 20:16 “Among all these were 700 chosen men who were all left-handed, every one could sling a stone at a hair and not miss.”

Well, well , well.

I grew up having to adapt to using right-hand everything, and learned to play sports right-handed because I was the only one not right-handed. I grew up with people always commenting when I was drawing or writing on me being a “ southpaw”, and I think it made me a bit self-conscious about writing or drawing. I learned not to smudge my work, and it’s always been easier for me to paint horses facing to the right because I don’t smudge my work. Apparently we southpaws are creative too. I am .

I’m a lefty, a southpaw, and people are fascinated to watch me write because only 10% of the world’s population is left-handed. I’ve never been one to go the same way as everyone else, I’m the fish on Chosen, swimming against the current. That’s so me.

So what started this story was that I was wondering why I’m left-handed, and apparently (at least in the Bible) being left-handed was an advantage in battle. No one expected a soldier in battle with a sword on the left.

Now we’re on the spiritual battlefield, and I’m carrying the Sword of the Spirit in my left hand. And we’re winning.